Your Beast of Burden

It seems odd to me that in this modern world one of the main methods for transporting goods to the developing world is carry-on luggage.

"Ah, you're going to Uganda, here are 50 pairs of eyeglasses we need you to take with you."

Please note that the preceding sentence  doesn't start with, "Do you have room?" or even "How much do you think you can carry?"  Instead it's simpy, "Here are some eyeglasses.  Oh, and I need you to bring along a couple of laptop computers too."

"Well I'm only allowed two checked bags . . ."

"Oh, don't be silly, you can't put electronic items in your checked luggage, the customs agents will steal them.  And can you imagine what would happen to the eyeglasses in the baggage compartment?  You can just put them in your carry-on."

Somehow omitted in this discussion is the $9,000 worth of video gear I'm already planning on taking. But since I work for an airline I do have a pretty good idea of what would happen to glasses in the baggage comparment - they'd be on the bottom of the stack on the left.

The corruption is a bigger problem.  Every society is going to have a certain number of reprobates and when there's a relatively unskilled job in which you can make as much in a couple of bribes as the average person can make in a month . . . well they're going to tend to be drawn to those jobs.

"How about some fruitcake?  You know people in Africa have never tried my fruitcake, why don't you bring some of that in your carry-on luggage as well?"

Customs agents might not be that tempted by fruitcake.

The reality is I probably can find a way to pack most of this stuff, although I don't know how I'm going to convince a customs agent that I'm bringing two laptops for personal use.  I was going to bring one of my own that was actually for personal use, but I think that's out right now.

But I'm leaving out part of the reason for my resistance.  The truth is I was anticipating a ten hour layover in Dubai.  That's a whole day to explore the bizarre overdeveloped Sheikdom - site of a half mile high skyscraper and the world's only indoor skiing resort. Now I'm looking forward to ten hours sitting in a terminal watching a stack of luggage.

"Well, if that's how you feel, I guess I understand.  I could hardly expect you to give up a day of wandering  through the desert just so another 50 people would have a chance to see."

"Okay, I'll take your junk, but I'm eating the fruitcake myself."